Neon Junctions
by robot-keayleuu
Summary: Anakin doesn't know how to back down from a challenge (dark Anakin)
1. Power Supply

A passenger speeder skimmed the surface of Giju, stopping at a co-ordinate over the marsh. It's pilot climbed out of the ship, examining the engines as a second figure approached.

'Thanks for coming to pick me up-' Ferus began, but was cut off before he could finish.

'Shut up-get in the ship.'

Anakin Skywalker climbed into the driver's seat of his speeder and slammed the door behind him. Ferus waited a moment for him to calm down before cautiously taking the seat to his left.

The engines started and they rode away in silence, touching off the planet's surface and ascending towards a stream of small asteroids; the blacky-blue sweep of space stretching out before the star-shield.

'What's wrong Anakin? Why are you so worked up?'

Any sensible being would have noticed the dangerous flashing of Anakin's eyes, but Ferus was used his fellow padawan's temper and took Anakin's moods as they came. His words were volatile to Anakin's ears-to him not a question but a tease.

'You know exactly why. Shut up-just shut up! Even your voice gets on my nerves!'

'You don't have to get angry,' Ferus mumbled in response. 'If you're stressed I understand-it must be hard to have the temple giving you all these extra missions.'

It was a tiny spark of gasoline but it landed on a bonfire.

'You don't know when to quit it, do you? I'm sick of your interference,' Anakin snarled, jerking the ship to a sudden halt.

'You always do this! I had that mission on Balith perfectly under control, then you stepped in and took the credit for what happened when I was the one who almost died trying to save you- I didn't have to risk my life!' Anger boiled in Anakin's chest and suddenly, he couldn't hold back his complaints.

'Then the Temple tells me you're about to be knighted, when all I get is a lecture from Obi-wan! Now he doesn't think I'm suitable to be back on the field, and I'm the one sent to pick you up, like some half-rate escort service when it should be the other way around-I'm the one who should have been put forward for knighting-me!'

He thumped his hands against the control panel of the ship, taking a moment to gather his composure before resuming his pace of piloting.

'You're driving too fast,' Ferus told him, quietly.

'What's the matter, Olin?' Anakin barked a laugh. 'Are you scared? The so-called knight-to-be can't handle the heat of the engine?'

'Anakin, I'm serious… you're going to get us both killed...'

Ferus's face had become tinged with green and his nails dug into the fabric of the seat as the speeder continued to accelerate.

'You're jealous,' he realised, quietly. 'You're jealous that I was recommended instead of you. Maybe I got chosen because I'm the more suitable knight- did that thought ever cross your mind?'

Anakin drove the ship forward into an asteroid, swerving at the last minute. Ferus cried out in shock and gathered the force around him into a protective bubble, shaking slightly from the collision.

'Oops,' Anakin commented, jerking the speeder violently again. 'Didn't see that one. If it bothers you, Ferus, I suppose I could slow down… Maybe I'll just tell the temple to leave you out of all the flight-based missions.'

'No, no, I… I'm fine.'

His feelings betrayed his words but Ferus refused to go down easily.

'When I get back, I think I'm going to have a word with Obi-wan,' he said, matching his breath with his heartbeats. 'Your driving is so reckless-maybe I'll just tell him to leave you out of all thought-based missions. It looks like you'll be spending a lot of time back at the temple from now on, _Padawan Ani_.'

'You asked for it,' Anakin ground his teeth. 'Wait. Just wait.'

_I hate you, Ferus Olin._

* * *

'Hey Olin, how's it going?'

Ferus was walking through a corridor of the temple when he jumped, startled at the appearance of Anakin.

'Anakin! What are you doing? You're not allowed to... not supposed to be in this part of the temple…'

'We have some unfinished business,' Anakin slid down from the alcove of a window, feet lightly touching the carpet.

'You think you can just talk hutt slime about me and get away with it?' His tone was threatening but Anakin wore a broad smile-peering over his shoulder Ferus saw his speeder parked in mid-air.

'I want to race you,' Anakin declared, taking a step toward him. 'If you're going to become a Knight then you should have developed your senses, right? You should be more suitable than me in every aspect… and that includes racing.'

Ferus faltered for a moment, taking a step back. 'You're crazy,' he mumbled, but Anakin was insistent.

'Finish what you started! You say that you're prepared for this, but I don't think that's true. Anyway, I want to know for sure: the doubt is killing me.'

'No.' Ferus turned his back, though gave an aura of considering. 'I won't break the rules for something as personal as this: you're going to get yourself into trouble Anakin- we're not permitted to leave after dark!'

'You're a weak Jedi,' Anakin challenged. 'And you'd make an even weaker Knight. You're afraid of being beaten and that's why you decline.'

'I'm not afraid,' Ferus straightened. 'I just have a hard time believing you want a friendly race with me.'

'Who said anything about a friendly race?' Anakin laughed at the absurdity. 'I wouldn't have travelled all this way if the stakes weren't high. I propose a gamble: if I win, you have to surrender your place in the mission to me. Tell the temple they were wrong to pick you-tell them what really happened down on Balith.'

Ferus swallowed a lump. 'And what happens if I win? That doesn't sound very-'

'If you win, I'll leave you alone,' Anakin snapped. 'Plus…' He faltered. 'Plus, I'll cut off my training braid. If that happens I won't get knighted at all-I'll have to wait at least another five years-maybe ten- until it grows back. But that doesn't matter, because that's never going to happen.'

'You're such a youngling, Anakin.' Ferus smiled, unable to resist the challenge. 'I'll do it-but only to prove you wrong. Let me get my ship from the hangar, and we'll both see how this ends.'

As Ferus disappeared down the hallway Anakin stood for a few moments-giving the situation time to sink in.

'You can't prove me wrong,' he whispered, to himself.


	2. Blackout

The streets of Coruscant were dark and tightly packed. At night, the city-based planet was dimly lit by stacks of neon signs that reflected in the pools of rain-currently, the planet was experiencing a downpour.

Anakin inhaled, and the midichlorians in his body begun to race, excited by the city rush. With half-finished construction projects, brightly lit pedestrian tunnels and tightly packed metallic platforms, Coruscant was like a dream come true-to Anakin it wasn't a city but a living, breathing haven of challenges.

'Are you sure about this? Coruscant doesn't even _have_ a racing course.'

Ferus stood with his feet over the edge of a platform, looking out over a sea of lights. One tiny push would be all that it took… behind his back, Anakin's fingers flexed.

'There you go again with that attitude.' He grabbed Ferus by the folds of his tunic, dragging him away from the edge of the platform before the urge to push him became a need.

'Anakin, stop!' Ferus cried out and pulled free of his Anakin's grasp, shoving him aside. Several people turned to stare but Anakin ignored them, taking slow and steady strides as he attempted to deal with his anger.

'Coruscant doesn't need a racing course-we can make one out of what we have.'

Ferus bit his lip. 'No, Anakin… I don't feel right about this. This is a crowded city and a designated public area. If we hit someone…'

'If _you_ hit someone, you wouldn't be a very skilled Jedi. If you're Knight material you'd see everything that comes your way: people, obstacles-everything. But if you want to back out now, that's fine. I just hope you're ready to tell the temple about Balith.'

Ferus twisted uncomfortably.

'You want me to do a complete loop around this division's hemisphere?'

'Yeah-you see that monument over there?' Anakin pointed to a heavy, metallic sphere with a cylinder shaped tunnel in its middle, held up by multiple thin construction beams.

'When you emerge from the middle of the cylinder in that sphere, the race will be over. We start on this platform: from there we go forward until we reach the shopping district-through the underground tunnels, along the construction area then out through the giant sphere. One lap is all we'll need- and I'll be watching your speeder on my map, Olin; move off course and you're dead.'

Ferus brushed Anakin's last remark aside, placing one leg over the door of his speeder before catching sight of Anakin and hesitating.

'Anakin?'

'Yeah?'

'Why are you wearing a crash helmet?'

Anakin frowned. 'What do you-'

'You _never_ wear a crash helmet. Anakin… you're not-'

'You're letting your fear get the better of you,' Anakin interrupted. 'I told you we were gonna race-if you didn't prepare yourself, that's your own fault. Now,' he grinned, flipping his visor over his eyes. 'Shut up and race me.'

* * *

Lights rained down on Anakin as he lifted off the platform. When the engines kicked into action, Anakin felt like the speeder was a part of his body-his senses seemed to switch on and heighten, Force signature pulsating with the energy of the city.

A rain of glitter panned down onto Anakin as he shot through the city lights-already the blip of Ferus on his radar was drawing back, disappearing into the distance. Anakin hadn't doubted that Ferus stood a chance against him but had still needed to prove it-maybe to himself more than anyone else. With the conformation of this fact, Anakin took the race as it came.

Showers of acid green and luminous yellow were thrown over Anakin's star-shield as he swerved around the buildings and platforms, bathing his ship in the colourful floods of noise and light pollution. As he followed a series of neon spirals down to the city's core, he was hit with an onslaught of lights-the brightness was blinding and Anakin had to blink several times; mostly reliant on the Force as he darted around the one way traffic that rose up as he descended.

He shot past the flashing billboards, advertisements and holographic figures that floated over his head then re-emerged from the shopping district into the air. Shadows of buildings loomed over him, and Anakin had to squint to see through the smoke and rain.

The sphere was now minutes away-already Anakin could distinguish it's shape in the distance. He also noticed-to his surprise-that his own blip on his radar was closely accompanied by Ferus's. The area behind the sphere was completely unconstructed which made it challenging to drive through-the stars seemed to diminish and the light's had all faded-he was alone in the dark, driving through the beating rain. There wasn't any comfortable room for him to drive between the buildings-should the speeder come off-course and hit a foundation, a heap of metal and rubble would have fallen down and crushed him. Anakin chewed his lip-maybe he should have allowed Ferus to tail him. But he couldn't stop now, when he had so much momentum…

Suddenly, Anakin had an idea. Feelings and thoughts were rushing through his mind but somehow, a single whisper had stayed. And what a perfect little whisper it was...

Even if Ferus lost the race, Anakin doubted he'd keep his word. Ferus had agreed because Ferus couldn't lose-it was his word against Anakin's: the diminishing moon that could block out a whole sun. Anakin dropped down to the next gear and slowed, driving steadily for several seconds until Ferus shot past him; it was then Anakin called upon the Force.

Time began to slow as Anakin looked into the future. In a few moments Ferus would enter the sphere-his journey through its middle would last three solid seconds before he emerged and won the race. Anakin inhaled and closed his eyes, separating his thoughts from the Force.

He accelerated and drove at full speed toward the sphere, cloaking his speeder in a bundle of dark energy. At the last possible moment Anakin swerved and drove his ship into the sphere's foundations at the exact time Ferus entered it's middle.

There was a crunch as the front of his speeder smashed but still Anakin's ship continued-protected by the shroud of dark force energy. Metal beams cracked and snapped as he drove directly through them, and when Anakin passed under the place where Ferus was in the cylinder, he accelerated-bringing down all the foundations around him.

It took less than a second: there was an ear-shattering crunch as the giant, metal sphere caved in, crushing Ferus's speeder between its middle. The sphere gave a metallic groan and fell over, breaking away from the renaming support beams. It screeched and then tilted before becoming enveloped in black: falling into the abyss of space that waited several feet below.

Anakin slid away just in time from it's collapse. Buttons flashed violently as he spiralled out of control-his engines sparked and as the ship gave out Anakin directed it toward a nearby platform, crashing down on the metal and skidding over its surface, flipping over onto its side and throwing Anakin through the starshield.

Anakin sailed through the air before he was thrown face first onto the platform, fragments of glass crunching beneath him as he rolled- the glass rolling with him, disappearing over the edge. Anakin grunted as he clutched the platform, broken glass sinking into his fingers as he pulled himself up. Aching all over Anakin lay down, exhilarated from the rush.

As he sat he clutched his broken rib, looking down to see red staining the fabric of his tunic. Another stream dripped down his cheeks where the visor of his helmet had shattered and his nose had broken from the impact, but Anakin didn't seem to notice.

'Did I win?' Anakin grinned, removing his helmet and climbing steadily to his feet.

The ruined carcass of his ship lay tipped over on it's side- its scorched engines giving a splutter before the vehicle set itself aflame. Anakin ground his teeth-tasting blood and smoke on his tongue as he laughed, inhaling the wreckage of his flaming ship. He stretched out for Ferus with the Force to find the other side of the communication was blank.

'I think I won.' Anakin said, with a laugh.

As police sirens begun to sound in the background Anakin tucked his helmet under his arm, brushing ash from his clothes as he walked to call a taxi, rain dampening his hair as the fires behind him continued to burn.

* * *

They sat together around an open fire-the remaining ashes burning to embers as the cremation to honour Ferus Olin drew itself to close. Anakin had kept his head down through the entire ceremony-fidgeting under the benches, unsure of how he should feel after the rush had burnt out.

From the corner of his eye he see's Obi-wan rise and Anakin jumps to his feet, pushing through the crowds of Jedi.

'Master… Master, wait!'

'I have nothing to say to you, Anakin: not a single word.' Obi-wan drops his head and looks to something in the distance, his forehead lined with layers of grief.

Anakin feels discouraged by this-he was planning to swerve the conversation toward his knighthood fairly quickly. Instead, he tries a different technique:

'It was an accident, I swear-I never meant for him to die! The lights blinded me and I lost control of my ship-Ferus was like a younger brother to me-'

'You shouldn't have been racing in the first place! If you hadn't been so corrupted by your pride-'

'Ferus was the one who was corrupted by his pride!' Anakin snapped, angrily. 'If he couldn't have done it, he shouldn't have offered to race me-'

'Is that really what happened?' Obi-wan narrowed his eyes. 'Are you telling me the truth? Did Ferus plan that race?'

'Of co-'

'Don't lie to me, Anakin!' Obi-wan bellowed at the younger man but the anger didn't reach his eyes-when he looked up at Anakin, his expression was one of sadness.

'Anakin… were you trying to kill him?'

Anakin dropped his head to avert his eyes-a hint of a smile playing around his lips.

'I don't know, Master,' he responded and when he lifted his head, his expression was blank. 'I just don't know.'


End file.
